Less than a month after acquiring the rights to defenseman
Mathew Dumba, the Portland Winterhawks received word Tuesday that the
19-year-old star will soon be on his way to Portland.

The National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild, for whom Dumba
has played this season, announced that he has been loaned to the Hawks for the
remainder of the Western Hockey League season.

Dumba had most recently been playing for Canada in the world
junior hockey championship in Sweden, along with Winterhawks Taylor Leier, Nic
Petan and Derrick Pouliot. Canada finished fourth in the tournament, which
ended Sunday.

The arrival of Dumba is a welcome sign for the Hawks
(25-12-2-2), who have struggled defensively this season after setting a
franchise record for fewest goals allowed in winning the WHL title last year.

With Leier, Petan and Pouliot away at the tournament since
mid-December, and Brendan Leipsic serving out a seven-game suspension, Portland
has lost four in a row and seven of 10. The Hawks still lead the U.S. Division
by a small margin over Everett, Seattle and Spokane.

Like Pouliot, Dumba is an offensive-minded player, but he
brings nearly 200 games of WHL experience and confidence in the defensive zone
that has been lacking at time for the Hawks.

He appeared in 13 games this season for Minnesota, but was
more often left out of the lineup altogether. With Dumba getting meager playing
time at the NHL level, the Wild decided it was in their best interest to have
him develop further with Portland.

"I just found out yesterday that there was a good chance
this would happen," said Hawks coach and general manager Mike Johnston. "I
talked to (Minnesota GM) Chuck Fletcher a couple of times over the last week,
and he originally indicated they wanted to bring him back and maybe put him in
the lineup because they had some injuries, but decided ultimately that it would
be better for him as a player to come back to junior."

There's no timetable for Dumba's arrival in Portland, as
he's recovering from an illness that caused him to struggle on the ice during
the world junior tournament.

"We don't know much right now," said Johnston, who hadn't
spoken with Dumba as of Tuesday afternoon. "He's being evaluated by Minnesota's
doctors because he lost about 10 pounds from a virus. So we have to wait and
see when he'll be able to join us."

On Dec. 10, the Hawks acquired Dumba's WHL rights from the
Red Deer Rebels, for whom he played the previous three seasons. The trade sent Hawks
forward Presten Kopeck to Red Deer along with three draft picks conditional on
Dumba coming to Portland. Those picks — second-round selections in the 2014,
2015 and 2016 WHL bantam drafts — will now transfer to Red Deer.

With the Hawks already missing first-round picks over the
next four seasons due to sanctions imposed by the WHL last season, Johnston lacks
the draft choices coveted by rebuilding teams looking to unload veterans in
advance of Friday's trade deadline.

Because of that, and Johnston's hesitance to trade
developing young players, it's likely that any further trades this week will be
relatively minor.

HAWKS NOTES:

* The team recently parted ways with forward Shane McColgan,
one of the Hawks' three allowed "overage" players born in 1993. McColgan
remains on the roster, but has returned home to California while Johnston
attempts to work out a trade for him.

Johnston has declined to go into details about what went
wrong with McColgan, who only played 10 games after recovering from offseason
hand surgery. With McColgan's departure, the Hawks could use the empty overage
slot to acquire a veteran to further bolster the roster.

* During the broadcast for the world junior gold medal game
on Sunday, which Finland won 3-2 in overtime over host Sweden, commentators for
Canada's TSN network mentioned that Swedish defenseman Gustav Olofsson was
interested in playing in the WHL. The Hawks own Olofsson's WHL rights.

Olofsson currently plays NCAA hockey for Colorado College,
but the 19-year-old could join the Hawks if he chooses to leave school.

Any such possibility was news to Johnston, though, who said
he hasn't spoken with Olofsson.

"We recruited him when he was deciding between going to
college or coming to the WHL, but haven't had any contact with him since he
decided to go to the NCAA," said Johnston.

* Leier, Petan and Pouliot will play for the Hawks in four
games this week, all of which are on the road. After Sunday's game in
Vancouver, B.C., all three will return home to spend time with family because
they missed out on the WHL's Christmas break while competing in the world
junior tournament.

They will miss a few days of practice, but won't miss any
games, returning for the Hawks' Jan. 17 home game against Moose Jaw.